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Robert Morris Signs Walton to Two-Year Contract Extension

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Pittsburgh -- Director of Athletics Craig Coleman announced today that Robert Morris University has extended the contract of head football coach Joe Walton. Walton, the only head coach in the 18-year history of the program, will coach the Colonials through the 2013 campaign.

"We are delighted that Coach Walton will be leading our football program through 2013," Coleman said. "He is synonymous with RMU football, and it will be meaningful for all of us at the University when he reaches the 20-year milestone."

Coleman also announced today that at the conclusion of the 2013 season, Walton will step down as head coach and will serve as special assistant to the athletic director at Robert Morris.

"I wanted to coach 20 years with this program, because it really has been the love of my life, and that's what's important," Walton said. "I'm confident that whoever succeeds me as head coach will carry on the tradition of Robert Morris football. I'm also extremely excited to stay on and help Dr. Coleman and the department of athletics in any way that I can."

In his 18 years as head coach at Robert Morris, Walton has produced an overall record of 103-73-1 (.585). In 2010, he led the Colonials to their first NEC regular-season championship in 10 years and league-high sixth overall with an overall record of 8-3 (.727), including a 7-1 (.875) mark in the league. Thanks to the championship, RMU earned the NEC's inaugural bid to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs.

"We are thrilled that Coach Walton has agreed to stay on with the University in an advisory capacity to me once he decides to hang up the whistle," Coleman said. "He has been an exemplary ambassador for this department during a period of unparalleled growth overall for this University, and he will continue to play an important role in the future."

Walton has led Robert Morris to six NEC regular-season championships in the 16-year history of the league, the most in NEC history. The Colonials own three outright titles (1997, 1999, 2000) while sharing three others (1996, 1998, 2010).

Walton also led RMU to back-to-back ECAC Bowl victories in 1996 and 1997, and in 1999 and 2000 he guided the Colonials to a pair of NCAA I-AA mid-major national championships according to Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette. The 2000 Colonials finished with a perfect 10-0 record, the only team to have an undefeated season in RMU's 36 years of Division I athletics.

Robert Morris continues its 2011 season Saturday, Oct. 1, with a Noon kickoff against Monmouth at Kessler Field in West Long Branch, N.J., in a game that will be televised live on PCNC. The Colonials enter their game with the Hawks winners of 12 of their last 13 games against NEC opponents.

ABOUT ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITYRobert Morris University, founded in 1921, is a private, four-year institution with an enrollment of approximately 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The university offers 60 undergraduate and 20 graduate programs. An estimated 22,000 alumni live and work in western Pennsylvania.